Redding council to open recruitment for a new city manager
The council is contracting Rocklin-based recruiter Ralph Anderson & Associates to run the recruitment. It’s a decision met with mixed opinions by council members, some of whom wanted to offer the role to the city’s interim manager.
The Redding City Council voted in a special meeting yesterday to enter an agreement with a consultant to recruit the next city manager. It’s a plan met with mixed opinions by council members, as some said they feel interim City Manager Michael Webb should be offered the role.
Since the vote was held in closed session, it’s not publicly known how each council member voted, only that a “majority” of the council approved the decision.
Ralph Anderson & Associates will lead recruitment efforts, City Clerk Sharlene Tipton confirmed today. The Rocklin-based recruiter helped place Oakland’s chief of police and Fresno’s city clerk, among other placements, according to its website.
It took approximately three months for the city to recruit late City Manager William Tarbox after former City Manager Barry Tippin retired last October, and Tarbox didn’t start his role until two months after he was selected. If the recruiting, hiring and onboarding process is similar to last time, a new city manager likely won’t start until early 2027.
After Tarbox’s unexpected death in July, Assistant City Manager and Public Works Director Michael Webb was promoted to serve in the city manager role for the interim until the city found a permanent replacement. Since then, he’s retained all three leadership positions.
At least two council members think Webb is a good fit for the permanent city manager role. Redding Mayor Mike Littau told Shasta Scout this morning that time is of the essence, and Webb “looks like the guy of the most knowledge that can do this ‘right now,’ not waiting five to seven months for [a city manager] to get here.”
He explained that he doesn’t want to spend tens of thousands of dollars on recruitment, adding that an external city manager may negotiate a salary that’s higher than the current offer of $295,000.
Council member Jack Munns also told Shasta Scout this morning that he feels Webb is doing well as the interim city manager and believes he’ll be in the running for the permanent position.
The city manager recruitment announcement comes as the city searches for several other top positions, including police chief, fire chief, finance director and city attorney. Even the council could face a major shift after November’s election, as three out of five of its seats are on the ballot. The city is also facing significant financial challenges, and the council may make major changes to city funds and processes in the coming months after feedback from Circle 6 Consulting’s report.
In an email to a reporter today, Council member Paul Dhanuka repeated a statement he made yesterday on Facebook, saying he feels opening the recruitment process will help the city “consider all options, gather diverse perspectives, analyze information thoughtfully, and engage in civil debate.”
“Our city works best when we follow a clear, consistent process rather than relying on personal opinion or preference,” he said.
Council members Tenessa Audette and Erin Resner did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
Comments (9)
Leave a comment
Related Articles
Curtis says he won’t appear in federal court tomorrow to testify
The elections official received a subpoena earlier this month to testify before a federal grand jury and bring June election ballots with him. He said he confirmed today he won’t have to go but did not explain who had informed him he was released from testifying.
Shasta school board member Jackie LaBarbera faces new legal threat
Months after the California Attorney General’s Office approved the initiation of a lawsuit against her, LaBarbera is facing another dispute. The new claim against her alleges not only that her dual school board roles are incompatible, but also that she broke state law by holding her first seat long after having moved from the district she serves.
Flock, data centers and development: Here’s what two Anderson council candidates want — and don’t want — for the city
The League of Women Voters held a forum for Anderson City Council candidates last week. Former Mayor and Council member Stan Neutze and Sikh Centre Director and Shasta community organizer Amarjit Singh discussed their top priorities if elected. They’re among three candidates competing for two vacant seats on the council.
So Webb is capable of running multiple departments including that of City Manager while the Council spends big bucks looking for someone to take over one of the departments Webb is currently running. Ummmmmm. Am I missing something?
You said it Tobias, corruption. Hence the plan and outside consult etc. If you want to address the problem, hire someone outside to fix it by xxpunging the “good ole boy” network. To be clear- the people of this city are sick of this bullshit.
A plan to hire an outside consultant to conduct a search for city manager candidates is only “corruption” if you don’t understand the meaning of the word “corruption.” You MAGAs deploy the word like a knee-jerk following being struck by a little rubber mallet just below the patella. Weirdly, you’re blind to actual corruption when it’s occurring at the highest levels of our current national government.
.
Also, Tobias is proposing hiring from the inside, and you seem to agree that a search for outside candidates is a waste of money. But promoting from within without even considering outside candidates is precisely defaulting to the “good ol’ boys network.”
.
Your agitation seems to have confused you.
Wasting more money so they can pick a crony out of a hat. They’re passing over Webb because he is competent and shows a glimmer of independent thought.
You cannot fix a watch with its broken parts. The watch is broken. The watch requires new parts.
“The council is contracting Rocklin-based recruiter Ralph Anderson & Associates to run the recruitment” = A CLEAR EXAMPLE OF WASTEFUL SPENDING + INCOMPETENCE.
Why not giving the opportunity to interim City Manager Michael Webb?
Definitively the City of Redding is a cesspool of corruption.
Ralph Andersen & Associates standard hourly billing rates for executive recruitment and consulting services are $50 to $225 per hour, with specific project fees typically ranging from about $27,000 to over $50,000 depending on the scope.
Past municipal contracts in California -Executive searches- typically range from $27,250 (such as for department-level recruitments) up to $50,850+ for comprehensive top-tier executive/city searches.
The City of Redding will be WASTING at least $50K of taxpayers money; therefore, it is fair to label this public institution a cesspool of corruption.
I’m sure you’ve heard the adage, “You get what you pay for.” It’s generally true.
.
There is no way to judge the worth of the proposed $300k bid relative to other firms’ bids without comparing the respective scopes they submitted, their reputations, and their track records on past contracts. There is no way to judge the cost/benefit ratio of their performance until after they perform.
.
Your math is bad, and your perspective is naive.
Why do you guys have to label every political position that you don’t agree with “corruption”? Maybe not hump the same key on the piano over and over and over again. It’s lazy and dumb.
.
Webb is the current interim City Manager. Unlike other candidates, he’s getting the chance to prove himself right now. I agree that if he performs well, he’s likely the best candidate for the position.
.
What if his performance isn’t great? Should City Council start the search for a new City Manager then? That process took three months for Tippin. If we wait three months to see how Webb does and it’s not an inspiring performance, that pushes securing a new City Manager out to six months. The top dog is kind of an important position to be held open indefinitely, don’t you think?